Signal Maintainer Foster to the rescue

On July 15, 2012, Quintin Foster arrived all the way from Utah to help CR&E signal engineers with the CTC project.

After considerable effort getting the LocoBuffer to work with Windows 7, we were finally able to tie my laptop to the railroad, which was the first step in getting remote control of the signals.

With Quintin's help, we quickly got CATS and Designer up and running.  For those who don't know about CATS, go check out the JMRI page and read about it.  Rodney Black, the author of CATS, has developed a modern-era dispatching program for use with model railroads.  I've used it for years as a "magnet board" and I've used it as a CTC interface on other layouts, but now it's beginning to function as the CR&E's CTC system as well.  Once everything is initially set up, it's a piece of cake to do additional control points.

So far, the signals located at Lewis, Caldwell, Glace, Cove Mountain, Anderson, Ridge, and Coleman are all active and can be controlled using CATS.  The detection works through this area as well, so a train moving across the railroad shows up in the appropriate blocks on the CATS display.  Setting a route will display the appropriate signal, and passing that signal with an engine or detected cars will result in the signal "dropping" as it should. 

I do not have the passing siding turnouts wired into the system yet, so as of right now turnouts still have to be thrown using the fascia-mounted controls.  That will change soon, but until it does we have what is referred to as "poor man's CTC."  Crews will see a red-over-yellow signal at passing siding locations, which for now will tell them to line the switch into the siding.  Once the turnouts are wired to the Digitrax SE8C and configured in CATS, this will all become the responsbility of the dispatcher.

I'm excited to have this much going and I've very thankful to Quintin for his help today.  I learned a lot and feel like I can now continue to make progress on my own.  Like anything else, getting over the learning curve (or sometimes just getting started) is the most difficult part.

Signaling update 6/20/12

Signal installation is going better than I ever expected, although I have had the disappointment of a few LED's that will not light up.  I've been given the advice to check them to be sure they aren't shorting before sending the signal heads back to the manufacturer for replacement.
As of this writing, seven control points have had their signals installed and lit up.  These include:

Lewis - eastbound signal bridge, westbound two-headed mast signal
Caldwell - two single-headed mast signals
Glace - eastbound two-headed mast signal, westbound signal bridge
Cove Mountain - eastbound signal bridge, westbound two-headed mast signal
Anderson - two single-headed mast signals
Ridge - eastbound two-headed mast signal, westbound signal bridge
Coleman - eastbound signal bridge, westbound two-headed mast signal

This loads up all but one position on the first SE8C.  The first position has been left unused until I get cabling long enough to reach the signals at KD Tower (west end of Lewisburg.)

The eastbound main track signal at Lewis has a green LED that will not light.  The westbound main track signal at Glace has a red LED signal that will not light.  Of course both of these are built into the scratchbuilt signal bridges.  I'm hoping to be able to simply replace the heads if I can't get the LED's to light, but I suspect I will have to build new bridges.   Lesson learned - test LED's before installing in the signal bridges.

Turnout control is my next project, and then messing around in JMRI to get the control moved to the computer and detection working with the signals.

Signaling off to a slow start, but it's finally started!

The last couple nights I've been trying to "get to know" my SE8C and other signaling components so I can finally kick off the signaling project.  I had already placed signals at the first eight control points, so now it's time to get them hooked up. 

After much frustration trying to figure it out myself, and plenty of additional reading that detailed the problems others were having (one of which seemed to be my exact problem) I finally got one signal bridge lit tonight.

"CLEAR, west on the main at Glace, NS 457 out!"

Scenery construction progress

I've been working on scenery construction on the upper level in Room #1, and also down through the Loops transition peninsula toward the lower level.

At this writing, green-painted plaster scenic base has been completed for the upper level between Johns Creek and Smith (east end of the siding at Paint Bank.)   There is also ballast in this section and some trees and groundcover around the bridge at Johns Creek.

Cardboard webbing is in place (background only at this point) between the switches at Paint Bank siding. 

Green-painted plaster scenic base is in place from Paint Bank (west end of siding) through Forester, VA.

Cardboard webbing is underway for background areas between Forester and Coleman (east end of the siding on the mountain) and is complete for the backgound areas through Ridge (west end of that siding) and most of the Loops.  I'm working out the Andrews Geyser scene in my head before completing the strips there.

I have left the foreground benchwork on the Loops peninsula exposed for now to facilitate installation of CTC wiring. 

With any luck, I'll be slinging some plaster in the next few days.  Just seeing the cardboard web has created a different feel for the Loops area.  I'm looking forward to continued progress there.

Marcus